“Everything to Do With Schools” Ad Tells Story of Homosexual Marriage Being Taught to Seven Year Old Children In Massachusetts

Portland, ME – Stand For Marriage Maine, the committee urging Mainers to vote Yes on Question 1, today announced a statewide television ad that features a Massachusetts couple whose seven year old son was exposed to classroom instruction on homosexual marriage. Gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts.

“This powerful new ad clearly demonstrates to Mainers one of the many consequences that we will have to deal with if homosexual marriage is legalized,” said Marc Mutty, Chairman of Stand For Marriage Maine. “Our opponents want to pretend that because LD 1020, the legislation that would take effect if Question 1 fails, doesn’t specifically mention education in the text of the statute that it won’t have any impact on school children. This is what parents in Massachusetts thought as well. But it did, and our ad introduces Mainers to the reality of what we can expect unless voters adopt Question 1.”

The ad, “Everything To Do With Schools,” is a direct response to claims by the No on 1 campaign that Question 1, “has nothing to do with schools or education.” (See Jesse Connolly quote in the Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel, September 16, 2009.) It features an interview with Robb and Robin Wirthlin whose seven-year old son was read the book “King and King” in class by his teacher in his Lexington, MA public school. This book is about a homosexual prince who marries another prince and the two go on to rule the kingdom happily ever after.

In the ad, Robin Wirthlin says:

“After Massachusetts legalized gay marriage, our son came home and told us the school taught him that boys can marry other boys. He’s in second grade. We tried to stop public schools from teaching children about gay marriage but the courts said we had no right to object or to pull him out of class.”

The Wirthin’s were plaintiffs in the federal court case Parker v. Hurley where the United States First District Court of Appeal, whose jurisdiction includes Maine, ruled that parents have no right to notice when gay marriage instruction will be taught, nor do they have the right to opt-out their children from this instruction.

“If Question 1 fails, Maine’s marriage laws will be changed so that marriage is no longer between a man and a woman, as it has been since Maine became a state, but instead will be between any two eligible people,” Mutty said. “Just as happened in Massachusetts, there will be a strong push to include this new understanding of ‘marriage’ in our public school curriculum. Under the reasoning of the Parker decision, whenever marriage is discussed in Maine schools, participation in this instruction will be mandatory, whether parents like it or not.”